PoisonAlchemist: Man Muro, you boost my confidence and then you just go crush it with a heartbreaking work of staggering genius.Pariah: Don't tell him things like that, if his head gets any bigger he'll float off like a weather ballon :p

If there's one thing every adventure needs, it's a way to get the players started on it. Can there be any better generic plot hook than the old man who knows things? Maybe he wants to know more. Maybe he knows something but can't act on it. Maybe someone else needs his knowledge and he needs your help to get to them. Maybe... you get the point. But surely these wise old men can be more than just plot hooks, right? That's why this week's Freetext is sage.

PoisonAlchemist: Man Muro, you boost my confidence and then you just go crush it with a heartbreaking work of staggering genius.Pariah: Don't tell him things like that, if his head gets any bigger he'll float off like a weather ballon :p

How about 30 mercenary sages all of them intellects, scientists, wits, mystics, salesmen, masters of the law, students of history, religious scholars and guardians of dark secrets. But these men and women are not bound by some strict moral code or overpowering sense of duty to some higher organization or person. And if they do have strong agenda, they don't come straight at it. They serve in the halls of power, but they aren't part of the power structure. Yet they may be the smartest person in the room, which makes them dangerous. Specifically when they will sell their mental talents to the highest bidder.

These could be the lobbyists, the lawyers, snake oil salesmen, inventors, spy masters, military contractors and charlatans of the ancient world. Rasputin and Archimedes would be examples of guys like this from history

I kind of like the idea of sage-parrots, actually. Maybe you could have a library where, instead of books, they have parrots, or something. Who are all the past lives of the sage who runs the place. Or something. I don't know. I like the idea, though. A 30 works too, though. Also, no time constraint (I've still got an execution sub underway). But if it takes a while, you should point it out here, because otherwise I'll probably miss it.

Anyway! It is Friday! And that means a new freetext! Exclamation point!

Back when I first arrived at the Citadel, there was a plague of Drizz't clones. In fact, I seem to recall that the most commented sub on the entire site was a Drizz't clone at one point, though I think it's gone now. That wasn't all, though. There were also a lot of assassins. A LOT of assassins. I even did one myself (second submission - don't look for the first, it's gone). Nowadays, though, that seems to have ended. But maybe we've gone too far! There were a lot of assassins for a reason: assassins are kind of cool! So that's the freetext for this week: assassin.

I will continue to look forward to hearing about the Octo Pelagic ice mines, but until then, it is still Friday, and you know what that means....

Today marks the 150th anniversary of the battle between the Monitor and the Virginia, the first clash of ironclad ships and signal that the world was changing.

In honor of that, today's Freetext is WWMWBI - that stands for "What Would My World Be If?" The idea? Posit a major societal or situational change that might happen to a setting and consider some possible ramifications. Hopefully, commenters will consider what might happen to their own settings. But there are a lot of societal changes that have happened in real life alone; consider how many more there can be in fantasy or science fiction.

Ivanhoe jousts. Harry Potter plays Quidditch. Luke Skywalker bullseyes womp-rats in his T-16. Where would heroes be without tournaments to prove how much better they are than everyone else? You can have competitions for prizes or as a substitute for war. They could be related to magic or reigion. But regardless, this week, the Freetext is sport.

One of my favorite submissions on the Citadel is Voonsai. Check it out if you haven't already. This week's free text is for him, and it's Wyldling. Pick an animal and a young adult, and squish them together. Ideally, end up with someone who can give the PCs trouble, but who they won't attack because, you know, basically an innocent kid.

Hmm, I appear to have forgotten to put one of these up last week, but oh well.

This week, let's go with familiar. Traditionally little demons in animal form, but sometimes just hyper-intelligent animals. Sometimes servants, sometimes masters. They can be helpful or malevolent. Outside the wizard sphere, even someone like Navi could probably qualify as a familiar.

One of the staples of fantasy treasure is the gem, and it's also the Freetext for the coming week. Rubies, sapphires, emeralds, diamonds, unreal stones. Stones with magical powers or those merely beautiful. Stones independent of other items, and those part of something larger. Places where they're mined, cities carved out of them - there's a lot of room within this one.

I semi-officialized this thread in the main Citadel. Dragonlordmax was knighted with 500XP for starting and maintaining this thread for as long as it has been going. Been watching the response to it and I love it!!

I don't intend to take anything away from this thread and so not positive how to implement it but I wanted to be able to reward those that take the challenge. So, currently, the freetext challenge is in effect and authors will get a magic 25xp extra for using the freetext in their submissions. Depending on how you want to work it, we can put the announcement on the frontpage or leave it a forum thing. Up to you. Also, right now I have to manually edit the database to get it in there, which isn't a big deal short term. Will eventually get it so only Dragonlordmax can update it from the Strolenati page but that will be low on my list. For now I will monitor this thread and update it as soon as I am able. Usually takes a day or two to get a post for it anyway so shouldn't hurt.

Thanks to Dragonlordmax for starting this thread and continuing it! Thank you!

Let me start by saying thank you for the congratulations. I'd like to thank the Academy....

No seriously, congratulations, Scras, on the Gems of the Underworld, and on my part let it never be said that I turned down some experience points (now if I could just come up with the two submissions I need to level up...). Also, Pieh, I love the name Liquid Emerald, though I have no idea what one would do with it.

Anyway, it's Friday again, and that means a new Freetext. This week, it's going to by glyph. So far, only Kassil has a post under that freetext (and it's from seven years ago - did we even have freetexts back then?), but I think it's a good one that could cover a lot of ground - tattoos, words of power, magic spells, hieroglyphs - all sorts of stuff.

Hmm, I appear to have missed Friday, so here's one a bit late: cup. So far there's only one, and it Needs Advice, but I think there's plenty of room for growth here. Think of the Holy Grail, the, uhh. Ok, that's the only famous cup I can think of, but really, I think that there's a lot you can do with cups. How about those cups with ice in the side? That totally could have been an entry.